I've been so tied up in the upgrade, that could have gone smoother in my opinion, that I completely missed making a post for October 1st which marked eleven years of Neowin!

We started our upgrade on Sunday 25th of September, and the forums were mostly offline for the two days that followed. And after that, as you may know, many basic forum features didn't work properly, it has literally taken us this long up until this week to sort out those issues, and we still have a list of things that need doing (like syncing main page avatars with the forum ones, among others).

Anyway, what has happened in the last year then?

Tom Warren, who had been here almost from the start went off to launch his own website: winrumors.com on the 25th of October last year, and has done really well since. I always knew he'd do well, and I wish him all the best with that venture, he seems to have made a huge impact already, like he did here at Neowin for the nine years previous.

Tim Kimberl (Timan) stepped down from the developer team, at the end of last month after nine years of making Neowin look great, but he did agree to help us with the upgrade and support Pegasus, which he has done, only yesterday he applied a fix for the main page, so I'm really glad he's still available for those things.

It's not all bad though,

We hired John Callaham back in May to write for Neowin full time, and he has managed to double the amount of content for our main page, starting of with an emphasis on gaming, which is the area he comes from, but that has steadily progressed to tech news and even a couple of editorials that have been very good to read.

The feedback from that decision has been mostly positive, so I feel we're moving in the right direction on that front

And last but not least, our staff team.

In all the years of doing Neowin, I have had to deal mostly with volunteer staff, but never has there been a time quite like the last year that I really feel I'm dealing more and more with professionals, so kudos to the whole staff team for that and making my life bearable!

I say this every year, but we wouldn't be where we are today if not for the support of our members and staff, so give yourselves a big pat on the back, you deserve it, and I can only hope the same level of support continues well into the 2010's and beyond.

Now for a giveaway

Ten Tier 2 subscriptions are up for grabs, these are for new members that have registered here on Neowin after October 1st 2011.

To qualify:

You must have more than ten posts, that are on topic and helpful (by Oct 23rd when the draw is made)

You must enter your intent to take part in the draw in this topic

And also another ten Tier 2 subscriptions for current members who joined before October 1st 2011.

There will be a random draw of ten people who replied to this topic with their own memories of their time here, or how you found Neowin for example, everyone can participate, current subscribers (if drawn) will have their subscription upgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2 and extended for another year, members will get a year Tier 2, which is ad free and adds a "special" forum among other enhancements for your experience here.

The draw will be made on Sunday October 23rd, and winners announced here.

Luring new members with freebies to create more activity. Clever marketing idea.

After 10 years on this site (holy Zarquon, has it really been that long?) I have a lot of great and some not so great memories. I consider Neowin my home on the internet. And what a beautiful home it is after the last renovation.

The community here is for the most part great - very international, very knowledgable, albeit in some cases too opinionated. Those who regularly visit Gamer's Hangout and Real World Issues will know what I mean.

A lot has changed during Neowin's eleventh year - the front page news improved by a huge margin. The community lost some members when the ban hammer hit them, just as it gained some valuable new members. What worries me is the level of activity on forum and IRC - it's not anywhere near where it was a year ago. Let's hope for a rebound in the twelfth year.

I don't know what went on behind the scenes, but I feel you're beating yourself up a bit over the upgrades. It's a FREE site, and you were down for a couple of days - we lived on! I for one am astoundingly grateful for all the Neowin provides!

I joined because I was after another community to join since the only communities at the time I was a part of were either quiet or not really tech orientated. So this filled that gap nicely.

One of the things I never expected to earn was the MVC award, since I was just replying to topics and generally being active on the forums, but I guess my contributions to the forum were good enough to get this. So I must say thanks to the staff for that one.

Generally it's been great being a part of this community, since the majority of people have good discussions that don't end in flame wars most of the time, as long as you keep out of RWI.

I always get slightly annoyed with me paying for Subscriber then some people get it free. I pay to help support Neowin and as a reward we get some little extras, but just because someone is new and posts do they get Subscriber, there not Subscribing! If anything they should get Tier 1.

Fair enough for people who have been here for many years contributing etc, but not new people.

thats my thoughts, but I do fully respect you and your views (even if they are wrong )

I don't even remember how I found Neowin now, but I am sure whatever i was searching for, I kept finding the same site. It might have been something to do with Microsoft Train Simulator. Just tried searching for my firsts posts but they are lost in the archive of Neowin.

Over the years I have been here, I have seen loads of changes, many arguments, but the community seems to push through these. Some members leave, but new members join. Topics about 10 year old pizzas, how your girlfriend has ruined your life, the latest movies reviewed by "real" people. . . not to mention all the Microsoft news I could want and the catalogue of support that comes with that. It's great to see the rise of new forums like The Hobby Corner and of course, the mighty Android.
The more recent past bring back memories when the Neowin Dataserver had an accident with leaking water. Yet a simple update page was keeping everyone informed. Lovely.

Let's not forget the rise in reviews of products appearing on the front page, the increase in freebie give-aways and a website that actually listens to the users and implements changes to meet the needs and wants of it's community.

The direction some topics take is questionable and some of the humour of some members is downright strange, but Neowin is mu kind of website - A group of like-minded people building a healthy community

I always get slightly annoyed with me paying for Subscriber then some people get it free. I pay to help support Neowin and as a reward we get some little extras, but just because someone is new and posts do they get Subscriber, there not Subscribing! If anything they should get Tier 1.

Fair enough for people who have been here for many years contributing etc, but not new people.

thats my thoughts, but I do fully respect you and your views (even if they are wrong )

I would agree on this, if they were given out very often to be called common giveaways. But these don't happen a lot and I see it as a promotional, limited time, limited amount giveaway. Keyword being limited, it doesn't bother me at all one bit.

My best memories of Neowin are all based around the Lost threads in The Media Room. I used to browse the site anonymously for years until Rappy began the epic threads about each season of Lost. After reading the season 1, 2 and 3 thread about the tv show, daily, the season 4 thread made me join as I wanted to have input to the conversation (and post the latest trailers and spoilers ).

Although I have been a member for a few years now, I am checking the site daily, even hourly. Most of my post count used to come from posts in The Media Room